Little Games (5.12)

Rate, review & discuss the episodes from the fifth season

Moderator: Styles Bitchley

How Would You Rate This Episode?

10 (Perfect!)
4
4%
9.5 (One of the Best)
10
11%
9.0 (Excellent)
24
26%
8.5 (Very Good)
20
22%
8.0 (Pretty Good)
24
26%
7.5 (Decent)
7
8%
7.0 (Average at Best)
2
2%
6.5 (Not So Good)
0
No votes
6.0 (Pretty Bad)
1
1%
5.0 (Just Awful)
1
1%
 
Total votes: 93

Message
Author
User avatar
Pahonu
Robin's Nest Expert Extraordinaire
Posts: 2618
Joined: Mon Aug 31, 2009 2:19 am
Location: Long Beach CA

#31 Post by Pahonu »

Could someone please post screen caps of the part where TC and Rick try to break into the estate and end up breaking the window. This scene is one of the few, if only, times we get to see a close-up of the windows on the seawall side of the house. I believe they have decorative wrought iron grills over the windows and tile-work below. Thanks!

User avatar
Frodoleader
Fleet Admiral
Posts: 441
Joined: Thu Jul 05, 2007 4:47 pm
Location: Central Ohio

#32 Post by Frodoleader »

I liked this one alot, mostly because of Jenny Agutter. I always had something of a crush on her.
Noticed a flub: when Krista (Agutter) broke into the estate the first time, as she jumped over the wall, it was obviously a male stuntman doing the leaping. So much so I thought to myself "Who is the dude with her?" Then the camers cuts to Krista landing on the ground.
As for the white letters, etc., maybe it has to do with diamonds?
"You are three months at Dak Wei and still you crack jokes?" - Ivan

User avatar
MaiTaiMan
Fleet Admiral
Posts: 419
Joined: Mon May 16, 2011 12:43 am
Location: Mid-West

#33 Post by MaiTaiMan »

I really like this episode...awesome plot, acting, action, guest-stars, etc...! Jenny Agutter was definitely mysterious and captivating, and Cesar Romero---awesome actor and I love seeing him in other, more realistic roles than The Joker in the corn-ball 60's "Batman" series!

Even though somehow I knew she really was in league with her father and the jewelry thefts...I still wanted her to be totally innocent. But, I really enjoyed the ending though--she still went through the theft to please her father...but only stole the boxes to please Magnum! :wink:

This episode was "Very Good", and I rated it as such. :) By the way...I noticed that this episode had white colored credits, instead of the usual gold--what was up with that? Just wondering.
"It was more ironic than a Robin Masters novel--she thought he was dead, he thought she was dead...and only the chauffeur knew the truth! He should have been the butler!" "Lest We Forget"

User avatar
miltontheripper
Vice Admiral
Posts: 108
Joined: Sun Feb 06, 2011 9:48 pm
Location: Michigan

#34 Post by miltontheripper »

What a GREAT episode! Thank God we've moved past some absolute lows in season 5 (Tran Quac-quite possibly the worst episode ever Kiss of the Sabre- not far behind Tran Quac) and headed back to classic, entertaining, suspensful Magnum PI. TM playing what I can only guess is Dungeons and Dragons and crashing the Drakos system is priceless! And getting Mac to help is also great. It also doesn't hurt to cast a beautiful woman as the diamond thief and any appearance by Cesar Romero (aka the Joker!) is a treat! This has always been a top 20 episode for me. As always, I love seeing the computer room and parts of the estate that are rarely featured. Great cast, plot, and ending!

User avatar
Little Garwood
Fleet Admiral
Posts: 1261
Joined: Thu Apr 17, 2008 9:53 pm
Location: The Magnumverse

#35 Post by Little Garwood »

My wedding anniversary is coming up in May, so with the inspiration from this episode in mind, when my wife and I go out to dinner I'll be ordering a charred-rare New York Strip steak with potato skins and extra parsley, along with a Scotch! I just hope my wife doesn't stand me up! :wink:
"Popularity is the pocket change of history."

~Tom Selleck

User avatar
J.J. Walters
Founding Father
Posts: 4196
Joined: Tue Jan 02, 2007 10:54 pm
Location: Suburbia, USA
Contact:

#36 Post by J.J. Walters »

Nice LG! Don't forget the romantic horseback riding on the beach beforehand! ;)
Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

Croix de Lorraine
Admiral
Posts: 195
Joined: Sun Jul 31, 2011 6:49 pm

#37 Post by Croix de Lorraine »

Classic MPI episode, even if it could be considered "Digger Doyle take 2".

A few caveats though:

-Although the initial premise is hilarious, I found those scenes with Magnum playing videogames and making those homosexual shrieks quite grating.

-How can Magnum and Higgins be so stupid not to suspect when she invites them both to dinner at the same time? I can't believe they still headed off for their rendez-vous all the same! :?

-Who the hell holds an award ceremony in a living room, with the nominees sitting on the sofa? :shock:

Still, good episode and great quote from TC: "You wore a cashmere sweater to a break in?" :D

Also, this is one of the few episodes not to feature the guest room.

User avatar
J.J. Walters
Founding Father
Posts: 4196
Joined: Tue Jan 02, 2007 10:54 pm
Location: Suburbia, USA
Contact:

#38 Post by J.J. Walters »

It appears that the final scene with Magnum waiting for Krista at the restaurant was filmed at the La Mer at the Halekulani on Waikiki Beach, but I'm not 100% sure. Indeed, Magnum says he will meet her "at the La Mer" in the episode, but I guess I always assumed it was a set. But in looking at the scene again, and what few pictures I can find of the interior of the La Mer, I think it might actually be the real restaurant. Anybody recall what the inside of the La Mer looked like in the mid-1980s?

Image
Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

MaximRecoil
Fleet Admiral
Posts: 303
Joined: Sun Jul 06, 2008 1:10 pm
Location: Maine, USA

#39 Post by MaximRecoil »

Video games like Magnum was playing were certainly possible to create in 1985 when this episode aired. Now, Magnum's game was obviously a mockup created with traditional hand-drawn cel animation, but one of the most famous video games of all time also used traditional hand-drawn cel animation, and of a much higher caliber than what was seen in Magnum's mockup game (given that it was done by ex-Disney animator Don Bluth), i.e.; Dragon's Lair, a coin-operated video arcade game from 1983 - link.

Dragon's Lair was a LaserDisc video game, and being a LaserDisc video game, it could contain anything that any other LaserDisc could contain, e.g.; NTSC video and CD-quality audio (16-bit, 44.1 kHz PCM).

LaserDisc video games worked differently than conventional video games, in that the graphics were not generated by a computer, they were just video being played, and that video could be anything, e.g. traditional animation or live action. You didn't have direct real-time control over an avatar like in e.g. Pac-Man or Donkey Kong, but rather, you were prompted for input, and then a track on the LaserDisc would be selected based on your input, and you would watch your choice play out on the monitor. In fact, it worked exactly like Magnum's video game was portrayed (i.e., he provided his input through the keyboard and then he would watch the animated scene play out). I don't know if this was a coincidence, or if someone involved in creating the mockup was familiar with LaserDisc games.

Some LaserDiscs games combined computer generated content with LaserDisc content. This could, for example, give you a computer generated avatar that you have direct real-time control over, along with a traditionally animated or live action background playing from the LaserDisc.

The game addressing Magnum by name is a problem however.

User avatar
J.J. Walters
Founding Father
Posts: 4196
Joined: Tue Jan 02, 2007 10:54 pm
Location: Suburbia, USA
Contact:

#40 Post by J.J. Walters »

That's true MR, but I think it would be a stretch to assume that he was playing a LaserDisc game with a keyboard in early 1985, even if he was playing it through Robin's $100,000 "Dracos III" computer. I could be wrong, but as far as I can tell there was nothing close to those kind of 3D graphics on a computer in 1984/1985. Dungeon Master was close, but that wasn't released until 1987!

By the way, I absolutely loved Dragon's Lair when I was a teenager. Oh the amount of quarters I dropped into that thing! :)
Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

MaximRecoil
Fleet Admiral
Posts: 303
Joined: Sun Jul 06, 2008 1:10 pm
Location: Maine, USA

#41 Post by MaximRecoil »

J.J. Walters wrote:That's true MR, but I think it would be a stretch to assume that he was playing a LaserDisc game with a keyboard in early 1985, even if he was playing it through Robin's $100,000 "Dracos III" computer.
Yes, very unlikely. But a LaserDisc game is the only way that game was possible, exactly as shown onscreen, in '85. With today's technology, you could easily replicate the look of hand-drawn animation with computer generated graphics, but in '85, they were still quite a ways off from being able to do that.
I could be wrong, but as far as I can tell there was nothing close to those kind of 3D graphics on a computer in 1984/1985. Dungeon Master was close, but that wasn't released until 1987!
Well, Dungeon Master was originally released for the Atari ST, and the ST came out in '85, so cheap home computer hardware was already capable of Dungeon Master graphics in '85. Custom hardware in '85 (such as was found in arcade machines) was well-ahead of home computer hardware in terms of graphics capabilities. But even with custom hardware in '85, something along the lines of Dungeon Master graphics or a little better is as good as you were going to get, though I don't really know what could be done if you invested $100K into custom hardware in '85. The custom hardware in arcade machines of the day amounted to about a thousand dollars' worth (that's what a replacement boardset generally cost back then).
By the way, I absolutely loved Dragon's Lair when I was a teenager. Oh the amount of quarters I dropped into that thing! :)
I never played it, but I do remember seeing it, right up front and center in Space Port when it was a new game. I was amazed at the "graphics", not realizing at the time that it was merely NTSC video being played, same as if you popped a movie on tape or disc into a player at home. However, it was the first arcade game to have a standard cost of $0.50 per play, and I thought that was outrageous. Fortunately, that didn't become a trend, not at that time anyway. It wasn't until Mortal Kombat came out in '92 that I actually payed $0.50 to play a video game (it was only $0.25 to continue, so that wasn't so bad).
Last edited by MaximRecoil on Mon Mar 18, 2013 4:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
Pahonu
Robin's Nest Expert Extraordinaire
Posts: 2618
Joined: Mon Aug 31, 2009 2:19 am
Location: Long Beach CA

#42 Post by Pahonu »

J.J. Walters wrote:By the way, I absolutely loved Dragon's Lair when I was a teenager. Oh the amount of quarters I dropped into that thing! :)
Me too! I also played alot of the same type of game that came next: Space Ace.

User avatar
Kalai-pahoa
Captain
Posts: 71
Joined: Fri Jul 19, 2013 9:51 pm
Location: Rome, Italy

Re: Little Games (5.12)

#43 Post by Kalai-pahoa »

Help me!!! I'm addicted to the funniest scene of the entire series: Higgins yelling at Magnum because he crashed the security computer system 'Dracos III'. I ROFL every time and I can't stop to watch and re-watch it. Higgins yelling out loud is perfect and Magnum whimpering like scared of him is so hilarious.
The best exchange is when Higgins mocks Magnum's voice:
TM: It made me do it!
JH: IT WHAT???
TM: It made me do it!
JH: IT MADE YOU DO IT''?
:D
and also
Mac: Don't worry, Higgins, I'll have this thing reprogrammed before the competition.
JH: YOU TOLD HIM??? HIM??? (meaning 'this cheater?')
:lol: poor Higgins... You'd load the full mp3 file in the audio section.

However the episode is very good. I rated 9. This time Deborah Pratt is credited as Deborah M. Pratt Image

and probably Lenor Vandercliff knew something we still don't about some nazi war criminals:
Krista tells Magnum that maybe Lenor Vandercliff bought the Karachi from Martin Bormann in the late '50s.
But Bormann is believed to have died in May 1945 even though the circumstances of his death (committed suicide or escaped?) are unknown...
I know what you're thinking, but this time you're wrong.

Seaver41
Fleet Admiral
Posts: 388
Joined: Mon Dec 01, 2008 4:46 pm

Re: Little Games (5.12)

#44 Post by Seaver41 »

pretty good episode. Nice to see Thomas get to show his stuff that makes him the security expert. I'd say a comfortable episode to watch with no major swings to the positive or negative.

dongiovanni
Ensign
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Mar 08, 2014 8:47 am

Re: Little Games (5.12)

#45 Post by dongiovanni »

Enjoyed watching this episode again. Liked Krista tying knots in the climbing rope while having father/daughter chat. The 18oz steak would be enough for leftovers for zeus and Apollo.

Post Reply